


The Corex Games

by keithpoenewt



Series: High School Senior Year AU [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Corex AU, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Eventual Relationships, F/M, Female Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Gay Keith (Voltron), High School AU, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pre-Relationship, Senior year, Slow Burn, friendship goals tbh, its a 3 day camp really, or a retreat, senior year retreat, seriously someone give Hunk a medal, someone please help this poor boy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-06 15:17:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11038848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keithpoenewt/pseuds/keithpoenewt
Summary: The Olympic Games are here! Well...sort of. Day 2 of Corex brings competition and Keith couldn't be more unexcited about it. Lance, on the other hand, couldn't be more excited! He's confident his table group could win the gold. Lance could hit anything with pristine aim (he calls himself the Sharpshooter), Hunk is the smartest in the class and can think of a plan right on the spot, Bailey is probably one of the most flexible people on the planet, Cassidy's personality perfectly mirrors Lance's and could make anyone feel better, and Troy doesn't speak much, but he's a super strong dude.Keith, well, Keith's another story...





	The Corex Games

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So at my old high school, the senior class would go on a three-day retreat called Corex where we would grow closer together as a class. My time there really impacted me because I didn't know how amazing my class could be. Sure there were some low moments and people could really get on my nerves, but overall my graduating class was pretty amazing. I decided to express that here through these characters. The OCs in Lance's group are based off a couple of my classmates and one of my closest friends (her alias is Cassidy).
> 
> Some things might be OOC, but I'm going to try my best to avoid it. There isn't really a set order to these but eventually, there will be! Anyway, enjoy!
> 
> Edit: NOW THIS SHOULD MAKE SENSE WITH THE STUFF BEFORE!

**Corex Day 2, Daytime:**

Keith rolls his eyes internally. He’d rather be sitting at the lake’s edge, listening to music and relaxing, but _noooo_ …he had to be with the rest of his class by the rec room and cabins participating in whatever dumb activity the counselors have planned today.

Well, Keith can’t be a total negative Nancy because last night’s skit were pretty fun. His group definitely stole the show with teacher impersonations. He’ll never forget Lance’s spot-on impression of Lotor Isola, the head of the social studies department.

Oh well, there's no going back now - mainly because Allura decided to keep a close eye on him today so he doesn’t make a run for it…again. Last night he tried to sneak out of the camp after everyone went to be in bed. Lance found him crying at one of the picnic benches on the gazebo. They only got caught because they were arguing with each other pretty loudly. Allura caught them and sent them back to their cabin.

Well, it started as arguing, but turned into an arguing-confession session. Keith didn't admit his feeling for Lance (he'd rather die than do that), but he did get some insight in on why Lance kept leaving rooms when he and Keith were alone. Lance didn't give him a specific answer, but just said he was going through something and that it was complicated.

Keith has no idea what it could be, but he's ready for Lance to tell him when he’s ready…for the most part.

Lance smiles at his group members and claps his hands together, breaking Keith out of his thoughts. "I'm excited to lead you guys today! We're gonna do awesome in this Olympic Games thing and win the gold! I know we're gonna win because we have our star player…myself!"

Shiro claps his hands to get the attention of all the groups. “The rules are quite simple! Once you complete all the challenges we have set up for you, run back to the center right here in front of the rec room and ring the bell, signaling you’re done. Make sure to get your card signed by the counselor or chaperone running that challenge! Oh! One more thing! You all have to be holding onto a towel to move to your next challenge. If you don’t, then you have to start back to where you were before.” Shiro pauses. “Any questions?”

Keith looks around to see if anyone actually raises their hand. Practically no one is listening to Shiro’s rules so they probably didn’t even hear his question.

“Alright! Let the games begin!” Shiro exclaims as he rings the bell, signaling the beginning of the games.

Lance turns to his group and unfolds the towel. Keith recognizes it as his from when they went in the lake. “Everyone grab on! I know where we’re going first!”

Keith and the rest of Lance’s group barely have a chance to grasp the towel before Lance takes off towards the gazebo where wooden picnic tables are set up. He leads them around back to the teacher in charge of the donut eating challenge. Keith is happy to see that Coran is running it

“Oh! Hello kids! Choose one group member to be blindfolded and guided over to the donut to eat, after being spun five times!” Coran says brightly.

“I’ll go guys. Just guide me straight to it, alright?” Lance turns so Hunk can tie the blue bandana around his eyes.

“Can you see anything, Lance?” Bailey asks.

Lance shakes his head no.

“Okay we have to spin him around now,” Cassidy says.

Keith steps back next to Troy and watches as Cassidy and Hunk take turns spinning Lance around. He almost trips over a root in the ground and almost smacks into a tree. Keith likes to think it was done on purpose even though it probably wasn’t.

“Alright! I think that’s enough!” Bailey exclaims. “We have to hurry now!”

Hunk turns Lance so he’s facing in the proper direction. “Alright buddy, start walking forward.”

Lance takes a cautious step forward, narrowly missing a root sticking out of the ground. “Careful Lance!” Cassidy exclaims. “There’s a root right in front of you!”

“Four more big steps forward and you’ll be at the donut!” Bailey exclaims.

Keith raises an eyebrow as Lance reaches the railing of the gazebo where the donut is. “I can’t believe he made it.”

“No need for the sass, Mullet,” Lance replies coldly. “Instead of brooding by that tree, why don’t you guide me to the donut?”

Keith glares at Lance. “ _Fine._ Kneel down and lean forward…the donut should be right in front of you.”

Lance does as told and the donut hits him on the nose. “Oh! Got it!” He opens his mouth widely and bites the donut off in one bite.

“Thanks Coran! Onto the next challenge!” Hunk exclaims as he gets the sheet back from Coran. “Keith, you’re up!” He grabs the towel and opens it so the rest of the group can hold onto it.

“Good luck!” Coran exclaims as Lance drags the group over to where the soccer nets are set up in front of the basketball court and cabins. Hunk hands the counselor the paper so he can sign it. “Alright pick a member to-” the counselor starts.

“We know! Mullet! Grab that bat and start spinning!” Lance exclaims.

Keith shoots him a glare, but does as told. He grabs the red bat on the ground, bends down, puts his forehead on it, and then starts spinning.

“One! Two! Three!” Bailey exclaims, counting as Keith spins. “Four! Five-”

“Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten! GO MULLET GO!” Lance yells.

Keith stumbles slightly, vision slightly blurry. _Who the hell thought this was a good idea?_ He focuses his attention on the soccer ball ahead of him, determined to score. Lance may be the star player on the soccer team, but _Keith_ was chosen for this activity. He’s a fast runner so maybe that’s why. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Rolo gaining on him. _Like hell he’s gonna beat me_ , Keith thinks to himself.

He speeds up and kicks the soccer ball towards the goal. It soars through the air before landing in the net. “YEAH! LET’S GO MULLET!” Lance cheers from behind Keith. “Come on!” Lance grabs Keith’s shoulders and turns him around. _When did he get so close?_ Lance takes hold of Keith’s wrist and brings him back over to their team.

“Let’s do the T-shirt one! It’s close!” Hunk exclaims.

“Good planning Hunk!” Cassidy exclaims. Everyone grabs the towel and she pulls them towards where the coolers are. They see that Slav is in charge of this activity. Cassidy takes the paper from Hunk and hands it to Slav so they can sign it.

“You’ll have to take a frozen T-shirt out of that cooler and put it on one of your team members,” Slav instructs. “I guarantee you won’t get hypothermia in this reality!”

Troy chuckles at Slav’s instructions while Keith, still slightly dizzy from the bat, fumbles with the top of the cooler for a few seconds before Lance takes pity and helps him open it. Their fingers brush against each other’s, causing Keith’s cheeks to flush. _God, why does Lance make him feel like this?_

He can’t focus on his feelings crisis right now. He’s got a T-shirt to unfold! “Okay, I have an idea for this,” Keith says, voice wavering slightly. “Each of us pull from different angles then we shove it over Bailey’s head.”

Hunk, Lance, Cassidy, and Troy nod. “Let’s do it!” Lance exclaims.

They all grab a side and pull on the purple T-shirt. _Holy crap it’s cold!_

“Pull!” Hunk yells. “Put your back into it!”

“But it’s cold!” Cassidy complains.

Troy pulls harder and the shirt rips around the neck, causing him to fall on the ground. “Good lord!” he exclaims. Keith extends a hand to help him up.

“Okay this isn’t working. Let’s just shove it over Bailey’s head!” Lance exclaims. “Arms up!”

Bailey raises her arms in the air and Lance brings the shirt down. Her left arm goes through the sleeve, but the right gets stuck. “My arm is stuck!” she exclaims. Hunk hops over and tears it open. “And I’m cold!”

“Can’t help you with that!” Hunk exclaims.

Cassidy and Keith pull the shirt down on her so it reaches her waist, but it ends up almost going to her knees. The shirt is probably four sizes too big. “We’re done!” Cassidy exclaims.

“That was the fastest I’ve seen today!” Slav exclaims as he signs their paper. “Good luck on your future challenges! I think you’ll be happy at the result once you’re finished in this reality!”

“Thanks Slav!” Hunk exclaims as everyone grabs the towel again.

“What’s the next one, Hunk?” Bailey asks, shivering.

“Uh, three-legged challenge!” Hunk exclaims. He guides them over to the far end of the grass area, past the gazebo. “Do you need a sweatshirt, Bailey?”

Lance takes off the white, long-sleeve shirt he’s wearing and tosses it to Bailey. “Here, use that.”

Keith’s eyes widen and travel down Lance’s nicely defined chest and toned abs. This isn't his first time seeing it but, _damn_ , it's a breathtaking sight every time he gets to see it. _Why do swimmers have such amazing bodies?_ He clenches his fists when Bailey smiles at Lance and puts his shirt on over her own. Keith wishes he was the one wearing Lance’s shirt. It probably smells like him…just like the sweatshirt…

Crap, he still hasn't given it back.

He feels someone tap his shoulder. “Keith? You good?” Cassidy asks.

Keith nods. “Fine. I’m fine. Who’s doing this one?”

“You and me, McMullet. Suit up!” Lance exclaims, smiling widely.

_Oh, joy._

Hunk ties Lance’s right foot to Keith’s left foot. “Teamwork guys!” Hunk exclaims as he hands the paper to the counselor. Keith turns to see Rolo and Nyma’s ankles being tied together. Of course those two would be against him and Lance.

Keith didn’t have a problem with Rolo, mainly because the dude barely does anything in class nor has he ever been mean to Keith. Nyma’s the one he can’t stand. See, she dumped Lance at homecoming last year just because he came out as bi. She did _NOT_ like that one bit. Who the hell would dump someone at a dance?! Oh, that’s right, Nyma the back-stabbing bitch.

Lance turns to Keith and notices him glaring at Rolo and Nyma. “Hey, we’ll beat them. Start with the free foot then the one tied together, alright?” He offers Keith a reassuring smile. Keith only nods, not trusting his voice to say anything coherent because Lance’s hot swimmer body is two centimeters away from him.

“On your mark, get set, GO!” the counselor exclaims.

Keith immediately steps with his free foot as Lance does with his. They step with their feet that are tied together until they reach the end of the way. Keith and Lance quickly turn around and hurry back. Rolo and Nyma start gaining on them. “Come on guys! You can do it!” Bailey cheers.

Keith missteps right at the end, causing him and Lance to trip right over the finish line before Rolo and Nyma could cross it. “Lance’s team wins! They get a thirty second head start to their next challenge!” the counselor exclaims. He hands the paper to Hunk while Cassidy unties Lance’s and Keith’s legs. She helps them both up then they all grab the towel and hurry over to the pool.

Hunk hands the paper to Matt. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite group here!” Matt exclaims with a smile. “You’ll be choosing two people to jump in the pool and find exact change. Find me forty-four cents then I’ll sign the paper.” Matt holds up his hand for Keith to high five and Keith happily complies.

Lance immediately jumps into the pool. “I volunteer!” he exclaims when he comes back to the surface.

Keith feels his cheeks heat up when the water runs down Lance’s chest. Cassidy elbows Keith gently and gives him a knowing smile before taking her shirt off that’s covering her swimsuit top and jumping in the pool with Lance. “I’ll help you, Lance,” Cassidy says.

Lance smiles widely. “Aw yeah! Secret Weapon and the Sharpshooter!” He high fives Cassidy before beginning to search for coins. “We should find a quarter to make life easier.”

Cassidy nods and begins to look around. Keith peeks in and sees a quarter by Lance’s right foot. “Are we allowed to help them?” Keith asks Matt.

“No, sorry! You can only cheer them on though. There’s a betting pool about which group is gonna win and Shiro and I have money on you guys,” Matt says.

Hunk chuckles. “Well that’s nice!”

“Got one!” Lance exclaims as he lifts up the quarter that Keith saw next to his foot.

“I have two nickels and a dime!” Cassidy exclaims.

“Four pennies.” Lance says, searching the pool. He dives down when he finds one and comes back up, shaking his head. “Here! McMullet, take them!” He holds his hand out to Keith to take the money.

Keith kneels down next to the water and takes the money from Lance. He holds his hand out to Cassidy and she gives Keith the money she has. Keith double checks the amount, counting 41 cents. “Three more pennies.”

Cassidy reaches down and snags one more pennies. “Here!” She drops them in Keith’s hand.

Lance looks around some more. “Come on!” He spots one in the deep end, where two more students are looking at the ducks. He dives down there and swipes it up. Lance breaks to the surface and shouts, “THINK FAST MULLET!” He chucks the penny at Keith.

Keith stands up and backs up, easily catching the penny. Hunk laughs and pats Keith on the back. “That’s our wide receiver.”

“GOT THE LAST PENNY!” Cassidy shouts before Keith can respond to Hunk. She hurries out of the pool and grabs the rest of the coins before handing them to Matt.

Matt counts them up then nods. “Good job guys.” He signs the paper before chucking the coins back in the water. Lance pushes himself out of the water then everyone collects the towel and goes to the other pool challenge. Keith sees Lotor standing over there with a smug expression as two members from another group frantically swim around the pool looking for…are those _ducks_?

Keith looks up at Lance when he hears his teeth chatter. “You good?”

Lance chuckles. “I’m a bit cold actually.”

“I can tell,” Keith replies with a smirk.

“I have an extra towel if you want it, Lance,” Cassidy offers. Lance nods at her as Lotor starts talking.

“Okay! Choose two people to find the ducks with the blue dots on the bottom,” he instructs, taking the sheet from Hunk. “I expect great things from this group!” He turns to Keith. “I’m talking to you, Mr. Kogane.”

Keith’s jaw drops down. “I’m not even doing this challenge!”

“Cassidy! Can you go get me that towel to use? Thanks!” Lance exclaims then immediately jumps back in the water and Troy follows, but using the ladder instead. Cassidy hurries to go to her cabin to get Lance the towel she promised him.

Lotor chuckles. “I’m only teasing you, Keith. You make it very entertaining to do so.”

Keith pouts and crosses his arms as Troy and Lance begin looking underneath the ducks. They go through about eight before Lance starts complaining. “What the hell?! Are there any blue ducks?!” Lotor chuckles to himself.

At first he seems like a scary guy, but Keith knows deep down Lotor actually cares about his students…that’s why he pushes them to be the best they can be. Keith knows this from experience.

“Keep looking! You guys got this!” Bailey cheers, smiling widely. She claps her hands, but the long sleeves from Lance’s shirt muffles the sound slightly.

Lance sighs dramatically, but continues to look. “Found one!” Troy exclaims. He hands it to Keith when Keith sticks his hand out.

Keith looks over the duck, distracted by the baseball hat the duck has on. _Why would a duck-_

“OW!” Keith exclaims when another duck hits him on the cheek. He glares at the laughing Lance in the water. “What the hell, Lance?”

“You weren’t paying attention!” he defends, resuming his search for the third duck.

Keith rolls his eyes and picks up the duck that hit him on the cheek. This duck wears a silver tiara. “Why does this one have a tiara on?” Keith asks out loud.

“Do you want a tiara, Keith?” Cassidy teases him as she comes back with her spare towel.

Keith shoots her a glare. “Do you want me to throw this duck at you too? I won’t-” Out of the corner of Keith’s eye he sees another yellow thing being thrown. Before it can hit him, he snatches it out of the air with ease. “Nice try, McClain, but you won’t catch me off guard again.”

“Just getting you ready for baseball season, shortstop,” Lance replies with a wink as he gets out of the pool.

Keith rolls his eyes and hands the counselor the three ducks. She smiles and signs the paper then hands it over to Hunk. “Onto the next challenge!” Hunk exclaims.

“Let’s head to whatever is in the rec room and get that out of the way,” Bailey says. “Then we can head to the basketball court.”

Lance nods and takes the towel from Cassidy that she ran to get. “Good plan, let’s move team! The quicker we move, the quicker we can WIN!”

He guides the rest of the group over to the rec room. Luckily there’s no line this time and they can go in. Shiro smiles when he sees them. “Hey guys! Pick three to go on this side and three to go on the other.”

“Troy and Bailey go with me and Hunk and Cassidy go with Keith,” Lance orders. The two groups split off and Shiro follows Lance’s group.

Keith, Hunk, and Cassidy walk to the opposite side of the table. The other group’s side is blocked by a barrier. In front of Keith’s side are a set of seven large building Legos.

“Alright, Lance’s side will direct Keith’s side on how to build what is completed on Lance’s side,” Shiro explains.

“Okay! I’ll guide Mullet through building it,” Lance says. “The biggest yellow piece is the bottom. The square red piece goes on the far left side of the yellow.”

Keith picks up the red piece and puts it on the yellow. “Got it.”

“The second largest blue piece goes on half of the red piece,” Lance instructs next.

“The one that’s three by two?” Hunk asks.

“Yeah.” Lance nods.

“On the left or right side?” Keith asks next.

“Uh…left,” Lance answers.

Keith connects the blue piece to the red. “Okay.”

“Stack the pink on the green and then put them on the far right side of the yellow base,” Lance instructs.

“Yep,” Keith says as he puts the pink and green together then on the far right of the yellow. “Where does the black piece go?”

“On the rest of the red and two in on the pink, leaving a set of two…pegs? I don’t know what it’s called,” Lance replies.

“Yeah, got it!” Keith exclaims, finishing the creation. “Done!”

Shiro walks over to examine the two. Lance and Keith hold them both up to reveal that they are identical. “Congrats! You two managed to work together…for once,” Shiro comments with a smirk as he signs the paper.

Keith glares at him and goes to retort, but Lance grabs his arm. “No time for arguing! We have a gold medal to win!”

Hunk takes the paper from Shiro then grabs the towel. Once everyone else has hold of it, Hunk guides them out to the basketball court. He quickly hands the teacher the paper then picks up a basketball. Lance walks over to Hunk and puts the yellow blindfold on him and spins him three times.

“Alright, you’re directly in front of the hoop so just take your arm and-” Lance starts, but Hunk shoots the ball before Lance can finish.

The ball soars through the air for a couple seconds before landing in the basket with a _swish_. Bailey, Cassidy, Tory, and Keith clap loudly. “Yeah Hunk!” Bailey cheers.

Hunk takes off the blindfold and smiles widely at his team. “That’s right! No challenge can beat me!”

“ONLY ONE MORE GUYS!” Lance exclaims loudly.

The teacher signs their paper and the group hurries to their last challenge. Once they get there, Lance smirks, knowing exactly what it is before counselor Allura can even say the direction. “Keith, you’re doing this with me,” Lance says, motioning for Keith to join him.

“You two must hold hands and take turns kicking to beach ball to each hoop, then end up back in this one,” Allura explains, taking the paper from Hunk. “Oh this is your last challenge! Good luck!”

Keith furrows his eyebrows and looks at Lance. “Why me?”

Lance smiles kindly at Keith before he takes his hand. “Because, between you and me, we’re the star players.” Lance’s hands are cool to the touch, probably because he was in the pool earlier, while Keith’s hands are warm. Lance _still_ doesn’t have a shirt on, but Keith is doing his best to ignore that…it’s not working very well.

Keith feels his cheeks heat up slightly, but he still offers Lance a smile back. Things have been kind of weird between them after their talk last night. Lance asked if things could go back to the way they were, probably meaning him calling Keith ‘mullet’ and Keith getting upset with it. Keith agreed, but he knew deep down that wouldn't happen.

Him combusting internally over holding Lance’s hand is enough proof.

They turn their attention back to the beach ball in front of them. Lance starts off with kicking the ball forward a bit. Keith’s grip on Lance’s hand tightens as he speeds up a bit to chase after the ball. He reaches it then kicks it forward, the ball reaching the first hoop.

“Nice Keith!” Lance exclaims. He easily kicks the beach ball to the side towards the second hoop. The ball almost makes it all the way there, but the wind blows it away slightly. “Oh no…”

Keith frowns in determination before sliding out, like he’d normally do in baseball to slide onto a base, to kick the ball back on course. Luckily Lance has good enough balance so he doesn't fall to the ground when Keith does. “I got it, go Lance!” Keith urges him.

Lance pulls Keith to his feet before knocking the ball into the second hoop. Keith kick the ball uphill with some extra force, but the ball starts rolling down back towards them. Lance races up the hill, dragging Keith with him before kicking the beach ball like he’d kick a soccer ball out of their team’s side of the field. Keith expects the ball to go flying a ways away from them, but the ball, instead, lands perfectly in the third hoop. Lance notices Keith’s awed expression and smiles. “Sharpshooter, at your service.”

Keith rolls his eyes, but smiles back at Lance before chasing the ball down and kicking it towards the fourth hoop where their team is waiting. Lance kicks it next and it lands in the fourth hoop. Bailey, Hunk, Troy, and Cassidy cheer loudly. Lance turns to Keith and hugs him tightly. “WE DID IT! WE ARE A GOOD TEAM!”

Keith chuckles, cheeks definitely reddened, and hugs Lance back. Allura hands Hunk the paper and, after grabbing the towel, they all take off for the bell. Keith sees Rolo’s team running over from the pool area.

Neck and neck, both teams race to the bell, determined to win the gold. As Lance goes to pull the rope to the bell, Rolo’s hand grasps the rope right as Lance grabs it. “Hey! We got here first!” Lance exclaims.

“No, we did!” Rolo retorts.

Pidge, who’s sitting at the nearby picnic table, blows her whistle. Since she’s Matt’s sister, she demanded a part in the games so Shiro and Matt told her she’d be in charge of the event if there were any ties. “My time has come!” she exclaims. “In order to break this tie, both teams will participate in a final event once everyone else finishes. Winner gets the gold, loser get silver…any questions?”

“What is the event?” Lance asks.

Pidge smirks. “You’ll find out. Pick one group member to represent your team, but that’s all I’m telling you right now…oh! And it _can’t_ be your group leader!”

Lance motions for his team to follow him towards the benches on the opposite side of the basketball court, but in front of the cabins. “Alright, so, what’s our strategy?”

“We should pick someone who would be good at any sort of challenge,” Bailey states.

“It can’t be Lance so maybe it should be Keith,” Hunk suggests.

“The Mullet?” Lance turn to Keith and raises an eyebrow as if he’s studying him.

Keith crosses his arms and looks away from Lance. He really doesn’t want to hear Lance criticize him now. “I don’t want to hear it, Lance. Just pick someone else and leave it as that.”

“What? I wasn’t going to pick anyone else. You’re the man for the job, _Samurai_ ,” Lance replies with a smirk. “Maybe Pidge will have you duel with swords! You know…because a hockey stick is kinda like-”

Keith chuckles. “Yeah, I got the joke, Lance. Thank you.”

Lance smiles at him. “You’re welcome.”

 

* * *

 

 

About thirty minutes pass before the rest of the teams finish. Lance spent the time going over possible events Keith would have to go through with everyone else. They all decided that Keith _is_ their best bet at winning the gold.

Pidge claps her hands together and smirks. “Welcome, everyone, to the main event! Here we will decide whether Table Group 10, Lance’s team, or Table Group 3, Rolo’s team, will win the gold! They have each chosen their representative. For Rolo’s team, they chose Nyma Valentina. For Lance’s team, they chose Keith Kogane.” She pauses to let people clap. “Alright, there are two trees straight ahead with a flag in each. The first one to run over there, climb the tree, grab the flag, and run back across the finish line, wins. On your mark…get set…GO!”

Keith takes off sprinting immediately towards the tree. Stupid Nyma won’t beat him at this. He _lives_ for stuff like this. She didn’t stand a chance!

"WOOO! GO KEITH GO!" Lance yells as Keith skids to a stop in front of the tree before climbing. "YEAH! THAT’S OUR MULLET!"

"Go Keith!" Hunk exclaims.

“YOU GOT THIS KEITH!” Bailey cheers.

A small smile forms on Keith’s face when he hears his team cheering for him. Keith huffs and continues climbing the tree, flag in sight. He glances over to where Nyma is and sees she’s just getting to the tree. His team has first place in the bag.

Once at the top, Keith snatches the flag and begins his descent back down.

"Wow look at that! The lame emo kid can actually do something for once in his life!" someone shouts, sounding a lot like Damien. Does that guy have anything better to do? Apparently not. "Do we need to get Shiro to help you down since you can't even help yourself?"

When Keith hears those words, his foot missteps and he nearly starts falling out of the tree. The group of people teasing him start to laugh. "What a loser!" a girl shouts, voice matching Kara.

Keith furrows his eyebrows and looks to the ground below. If he jumped from here, his ankle would for sure shatter, but if he rolled in time, it would only be a slight sprain. He looks over and sees Nyma almost at the ground. _Well, it’s now or never…_

Keith sighs and leaps off the tree. "KEITH!" Lance yells, sheer panic in his voice.

Keith lands on the ground and manages to roll, avoiding a broken ankle. A slight tremor rolls through his ankle, but he scrambles to his feet and sprints towards the finish line anyway, ignoring the stinging pain he feels in his ankle.

This is why Shiro insists on Keith continuing to pursue football. Maybe he's right.

Keith turns to see Nyma gaining on him. He huffs and pushes himself to run faster.

The finish line gets closer and closer and Keith runs right into Lance's open arms, knocking the both of them over.

"KEITH! YOU DID IT! WE WON!" Lance shouts happily from underneath Keith. He smiles widely, a dimple showing on his right cheek. _Huh…cute…_

"Heh, I guess we did," Keith comments, slightly out of breath. It takes him another couple seconds to realize their current position. Keith scrambles to get off of Lance, accepting Cassidy's hand to help him up.

"Nice job! I totally thought you shattered your ankle there!" Hunk exclaims, patting Keith on the back once Cassidy helps him up.

Keith chuckles and holds his hand out to help Lance up. "Well, I think it's sprained. Shiro is gonna kill me."

Lance accepts Keith’s hand, and, once standing, he puffs his chest out dramatically. "Well he's gonna have to go through me! I'm not letting him harm the MVP!" He smiles widely at Keith again, eyes sparkling. "Come on, let's go get our prize!"

Lance puts an arm around Keith's waist while Keith puts one around Lance's shoulders. He helps Keith walk back over to where the counselors and teachers are to collect their prize.

Keith definitely doesn't think about how nice it feels to have Lance standing this close to him.

_Oh no. He's in too deep._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this self-indulging series! There were just too many amazing moments not to express them somehow! Stay tuned for more!
> 
> Tumblr: [keithpoenewt](http://keithpoenewt.tumblr.com/)


End file.
